Directions:
1. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl
2. Mix wet ingredients in a pot over medium heat
3. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients stirring constantly
4. Cook over medium heat or in an electric skillet until it congeals.
5. Remove from heat and put on wax paper.
6. It will be hot! Knead when it is cool.
7. After it is cooled keep it in an airtight container. This dough keeps well and does not crumble.

Directions:
1. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl
2. Add water and oil and food coloring or variation (koolaid, extract, etc)
3. Cook over medium heat or in an electric skillet until it congeals.
4. Remove from heat and put on wax paper.
5. It will be hot! Knead when it is cool.
6. After it is cooled keep it in an airtight container. This dough keeps well and does not crumble.

Directions:
1. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl
2. Mix wet ingredients together in a pot over medium/ low heat; applesauce, apple cider, oil and food coloring stir continuously until the mixture comes to a boil then turn off heat and remove mixture from heat
3. Add dry mixed ingredients to the pot with the wet cooked ingredients
4. stir until it comes together into a ball of dough and then
5. Remove from pot and put on wax paper.
6. It will be hot! Knead when it is cool.
7. After it is cooled keep it in an airtight container. This dough keeps well and does not crumble.

]]>http://familylicious.com/apple-cider-play-dough/feed/0Exploring Matter: Solid, Liquid, Gashttp://familylicious.com/exploring-matter-solid-liquid-gas/
http://familylicious.com/exploring-matter-solid-liquid-gas/#respondSun, 11 Sep 2016 19:19:18 +0000http://familylicious.com/?p=11404
I have been talking about different states of matter with my kids and after working on experiments to explore each on its own i.e. For Gas we made the most amazing gas bubbles and did the baking soda and vinegar experiment in a bottle to fill a balloon. For Liquids we have done so many experiments with absorption, transferring, water tables, movement, and sensory bottles. Lastly for solids we have dedicated whole play dates to exploring with ice, making slime, hidden object boxes, more sensory bottles and for a fun experiment we made Ooblick a non-Newtonian material that is both liquid and solid.
For this experiment though we are focusing primarily on the differences between solid, liquid and gas. To do this we inflate three balloons. Two are with water and one is with air. One of the water balloons we place in the freezer over night. So we have our solid (ice) liquid (water) and gas (air). To begin the project We talked about the similarities and differences of what we see. They are all balloons, they are all the same color, what other similarities and differences might we see? What similarities and differences might we feel? The balloons all have the same texture but they have different temperatures, different weights.
Now we should make some hypothesis’
*First fill three tubs with water*
What do you think will happen to each balloon when it goes into the water? Will they all float?
Test the hypothesis have the balloons placed in the buckets of water what happens?
NEXT
Take the balloons out and place them on some towels.
What do you think will happen when we pop the balloons?
Test the hypothesis have the kids POP the balloons. What happens? What do they observe? What do they discover?
Talk about has happened once the balloon pops. The ice balloon is solid so it stays tightly together in its own form. The water balloon will take the path of least resistance, it flows freely and will take the form of the container it is in. The gas balloon when it is popped transfers to everywhere.

I usually do an other experiment with role playing. So the children have the chance to act out the different states of matter..

Have the children gather in a circle. When they are a solid they are tightly packed they are a smaller circle shoulder to shoulder close together. When they become a liquid they separate out hold hands and can move together they stay connected and I have them gently sway or move holding hands in the circle. When they turn into gas they spread out their arms so their fingertips touch the next persons fingertips then they put their hands down. They are close but not touching and they can move around but they don’t touch another “gas molecule”.
**If you are doing this with a large group of kids I would make a set of three balloons for every four children to experiment and predict with.***

For older kids who are interested I would have them journal draw pictures of what they have observed. For a list of some FANTASTIC Open-Ended Questions to have more meaningful conversations with preschoolers and school aged kids please visit this post.
I have been doing these experiments with my classes for over 15 years but I have never blogged about it until now. I did see a fantastic post about it on the Fit Kids Clubhouse check it out here!

Why are there pointy things stuck to a rose? Why are there hairs growing inside your nose? When her house fills with a horrific, toe-curling smell, Ada knows it’s up to her to find the source. Not afraid of failure, she embarks on a fact-finding mission and conducts scientific experiments, all in the name of discovery.

You can find places to purchase this book, find fun activities, and see more blog posts from some very talented bloggers on the Ada Twist Scientist Site

Disclaimer: I was given a copy of this book in exchange for my post.

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]]>http://familylicious.com/exploring-matter-solid-liquid-gas/feed/0Open-Ended Questions a Guide to more Meaningful Conversations with Preschoolershttp://familylicious.com/open-ended-questions-a-guide-to-more-meaningful-conversations-with-preschoolers/
http://familylicious.com/open-ended-questions-a-guide-to-more-meaningful-conversations-with-preschoolers/#respondWed, 10 Aug 2016 20:57:03 +0000http://familylicious.com/?p=11405We should all be looking for ways to create more meaningful conversations with our preschoolers. Open-ended questions are a wonderful way to keep the conversation going by stretching children’s curiosity, reasoning ability, creativity, language development and independence. Asking open-ended questions gives you an opportunity to see what a child is thinking and feeling. A simple pause after a question, that moment of silence can draw a longer explanation and a more complex answer and reasoning from children. When you ask an open ended question children are encouraged to think about their answers and give details to answer the question. Their answers become rich with details, express thoughts and may offer an opinion that might not be expressed if given a simple close ended question. Asking open ended questions enables children to be creative, think of new ideas, use imagination, and to give more information. You will be amazed with the stories ideas and creativity you will hear coming from the children when they are given the opportunity to express themselves. Children’s problem-solving skills and use of their cognitive skills will be exercised as they search for more meaningful answers to the questions they receive. Open-ended questions encourage children to use language, children will search for vocabulary and form sentences which convey thoughts, opinions, and detailed ideas. Instead of just answering ‘yes’ or ‘no’, children give fuller answers that draw on a wider range of vocabulary and thought. When you start using open ended questions more often and freely you will also build relationships. Children become more invested in the conversation when they have to actively engage in it. They are able to relate something of meaning and respond with active communication. In this way, open-ended questions can be used to build positive secure relationships.

Why Are Open-Ended Questions Better Than Closed-Ended Questions? Closed-ended questions limit answers to one word and don’t allow for opinions, thoughts or the expansion of ideas and concepts. Closed-ended questions do not require the child actively engage in the conversation, so they often remain disassociated. The thinking behind answering closed-ended questions needn’t be in-depth or take any great effort.
When children are asked open-ended questions, it shows them that their opinions, ideas, thoughts, and feelings, are important. Asking open-ended questions says to a child that their contribution matters, you want to know what they think and that you value their opinion. These ideas and concepts strengthen the child’s positive self-esteem and self-image, as well as strengthening your relationship with the child. Questions that have more than one right answer or ones that can be answered in many ways, are open-ended questions. This way of asking questions stimulates more language use, acknowledges that there can be many solutions to one problem, affirms children’s ideas, and encourages creative thinking.

Let’s get started here are some examples so you can see the difference between these two types of questions.

Here is an example of a close ended question “What color is that crayon?”
This question evokes a one word answer. So it is a CLOSE ENDED QUESTION

Here is an example of an open ended question “Tell me about what you are drawing”
This simple, slight change in questions encourages children to use their language to describe what they are creating, thinking, and to problem solve an answer. There is no right or wrong answer to an open-ended question so all children can be successful in answering them.

Here are some general open ended questions you can use in conversations with children to help boost their thinking skills and to create more meaningful conversations.

Can you describe what happened?

Can you think of a new way to do it?

Can you help me think this through?

Do you have any other ideas?

How are they alike, different?

How could we make it work?

How could we work together to solve this?

How did that happen?

How did you feel when you finished it?

How did you get that to work?

How did you know that?

How did you work it out?

How do you explain it?

How do you know that is the right answer?

How might you do it differently?

Tell me about how you worked together.

Tell me about it.

Tell me about the character (books, child stories, etc).

Tell me about what you built/ made/ created.

Tell me about what you saw.

Tell me more.

What can we do to get it to work?

What do you think will happen next?

What did you see happening?

What do you like best about it?

What is your favorite part (of a story, art work they created, etc)

What do you notice about ____?

What do you think caused it to change?

What do you think would happen if you ______?

What do you think will happen next?

What happened at the beginning, middle or end of the story (books)?

What did you learn/ observe?

What is your hypothesis (educated guess) …We teach the vocabulary early and then ask this during science experiments

What makes it work?

What did you notice happening?

What problems did you have?

What was easy? **If they give a one word answer say “Tell me more”

What was hard for you to do? **If they give a one word answer say “Tell me more”

What would you do different next time?

Why do you think_____?

Why did you choose _____ over ______?

Ask questions which help your child relate a story to their own life and experiences.What would happen if …… came to your house?

How would you (hide the strawberry from the big hungry bear)…?

**If they give a one word answer for ANY of these questions say “Tell me more” you can also allow a pause in the conversation children will want to fill that pause with more words.

Use Paraphrasing by repeating what the child has said. Then add extra information, vocabulary, and/or more open ended questions to keep the child thinking. Adding new vocabulary such as using words the child may have never heard or used like “hypothesis”, “observe”, texture words (sticky, rough, silky), measurement words (gigantic, tiny, humongous, minuscule), etc. When we repeat and extend what children say we will help build upon what the children have already said by making new more meaningful connections and building upon their vocabulary.

Challenging children by posing thought-provoking, open-ended questions that are rich and clear can stimulate and push at the edges of children’s development (scaffolding). These questions are often expressed in conditional form “What will happen if you…?”

Types of open-ended questions that are challenging include:

Making predictions
What do you think will happen if you keep adding water to the cup?

Stretching thinking
What would happen if there were no cars, trucks, buses, planes, or boats?
How would we get around?

Considering consequences
What would happen if you left your drawing outside and it rained?

Assessing feelings
How would you feel if that happened to you?
How do you think MIkey feels?

Thinking about similarities and differences
How are these two blocks the same?
What makes these things go together?

Applying knowledge to solve a problem
What could you do to keep the paint from dripping on the floor?

Evaluating
What made you decide to pick this book to read? How did this make you feel?

Open-ended questions require more “think” time so be patient as you wait for children to respond.

References:
the Connections Project; Learning Communities for All Children, California Institute on Human Services, Sonoma State University
http://decal.ga.gov/documents/attachments/Questions_Children_Think.pdf
http://storiesandchildren.com/open-ended-questions/

a tray
This activity is super simple but it can keep kids captivated for some time.
It works there knowledge base for color recognition, matching, and differentiation.
I literally just set the cups on the tray and then dumped a bag of pompoms on the tray that’s it super easy.
My son sat here for a while looking at the pompoms deciding which pompoms go in which container
Using their fingers to pick up and grasp the pompom and then to push it through the opening in the container is using their fine motor control and their pincer grasp.

]]>http://familylicious.com/fine-motor-pompom-sort/feed/0Painting with Waterhttp://familylicious.com/painting-with-water/
http://familylicious.com/painting-with-water/#respondThu, 14 Jul 2016 16:11:19 +0000http://familylicious.com/?p=11319
It has been so hot so in an effort to stay cool and to keep my kids entertained. I offered up a simple and fun activity. Painting with water. Some of the fringe benefits with this activity is there is little mess or clean up and you might actually get part of your yard cleaned.
Painting the bricks in our yard with water gives the illusion that there is actually a change in the color of the bricks that they really are being painted. Which they are but just with water so when the water evaporates which it does relatively quickly especially on hot days the bricks go back to their same color. Only slightly cleaner.
While painting my kids remain engaged, happy, and enthusiastic, and they work really hard.
Detail oriented kiddos get every brick. Just look at him go and now my bricks are nice and clean and my kids just spent an our cleaning whether they know it or not.
While painting it is hot so the water keeps evaporating off the bricks so the kids have to constantly go back to retrace their steps. This is awesome because it gets them that much more excited.
If you are not in the mood for backyard water painting then you can do this simple activity. All you need is a :

Tray

bowl of water

piece of paper

paint brush, or sponge
Let the kids paint away with the water. It will change the color of their paper.
We used the pool noodle for stamping the water onto the paper
Afterwards we did some water color painting on we paper which is fun too. The color bleeds when it is one wet paper which creates a fun effect.
you can also add salt afterward just sprinkle some on top for more cool effects
squeezing water out of a sponge onto paper is another way to do this project and it also strengthens fine motor muscles
More water color painting on top of wet paper

random assortment of materials some that sink some that float
I taped off our tray into sections so once they figured out whether something sunk or float they could put it in one square or the other.
This is a fun game the kids love playing in water and they love discovering which items sink and which float. Its fun to if you want to let them go around and collect more items to discover if they sink or float. I also like having the kids make a hypothesis before they drop each item in to the water trying to guess if the item in question will sink or float.

]]>http://familylicious.com/sink-or-float-tray-experiment/feed/0LouAna Coconut Oil Reviewhttp://familylicious.com/louana-coconut-oil-review/
http://familylicious.com/louana-coconut-oil-review/#respondTue, 12 Jul 2016 15:36:48 +0000http://familylicious.com/?p=11327LouAna is your one-stop Coconut Oil resource. LouAna (short for “Louisiana”) cooking oils have been a staple in Southern kitchens for over 120 years. Long before Coconut Oil became all the rage, we were in the LouAna kitchen cooking up a storm with it. An easy swap in recipes for butter, shortening or margarine, and a wholesome addition to smoothies, drinks and more, our versatile Coconut Oil has 0 trans fat, 0 cholesterol and no coconut aroma or taste. No wonder LouAna is the #1 seller of coconut oil by volume in America.*
I have been using LouAna coconut oil in pretty much everything. I absolutely love it. From delicious recipes you can find on the LouAna site to my own that I make up. It is really easy to substitute LouAna coconut oil in some of your favorite recipes instead of butter/ shortening etc.
Here I made up my own recipe for an amazing smoothie that is so yummy it tastes like you are having dessert!
Ingredients:

1 tbs LouAna Coconut Oil

1 cup of ice

2 tbs nut butter (we prefer almond butter or sunflower butter)

1/4 cup dried coconut flakes

1 tsp chia seeds

1/3 cup dark chocolate

1 cup milk (we used 1/2 cup almond milk and 1/2 cup coconut milk)
LouAna coconut oil scoops relatively easy if you have trouble I just warm it up a little and its super easy to scoop
Mix all the ingredients in your favorite blender. I love my Vitamix. Once everything is completely blended enjoy the yummy goodness!Buy it: Use the handy product locator to find out where to buy Coconut Oil and all of LouAna’s other cooking oils—including Peanut Oil, Vegetable Oil, Canola Oil and special oil blends.

Disclaimer: I received LouAna products in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own.

]]>http://familylicious.com/louana-coconut-oil-review/feed/0Celebrate IHOP’s 58th Birthday With 58 Cent Pancakes July 12!http://familylicious.com/celebrate-ihops-58th-birthday-58-cent-pancakes-july-12/
http://familylicious.com/celebrate-ihops-58th-birthday-58-cent-pancakes-july-12/#respondMon, 11 Jul 2016 16:19:18 +0000http://familylicious.com/?p=11240
IHOP, the pioneer of the breakfast all-day, every-day movement celebrates their 58th birthday this summer! Since its inception in 1958, IHOP and their world famous buttermilk pancakes have remained a beloved All-American institution and breakfast icon for nearly six decades. On Tuesday July 12, IHOP is offering a 58 cent short stack of buttermilk pancakes to celebrate their 58th birthday. Fun fact: The original cost of an IHOP short stack when the restaurant was founded in 1958 was 62 cents!